A is for Aden and Z is for Zanzabar

A is for Aden and Z is for Zanzibar... Now what is between? For the world wide classical era philatelist and stamp collector, a country specific philatelic survey is offered by the blog author, Jim Jackson, with two albums: Big Blue, aka Scott International Part 1 (checklists available), and Deep Blue, aka William Steiner's Stamp Album Web PDF pages. Interested? So into the Blues...

Friday, January 9, 2015

Philippines

1871 Scott 40 10c deep green "Spain"

Quick History
The Philippines are a group of 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean, and were initially colonized by the Spanish after their "discovery" by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521.

As part of the Spanish Empire for 300 years, the inhabitants adopted Roman Catholicism, while Manila, the capital, became part of the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade between the 16th and 19th centuries.

Philippines

Stamps were introduced in 1854, and closely follow in design those of Spanish Cuba, except for denomination.

The Spanish-American War of 1898 resulted in Spain ceding the Philippine islands to the United States. The nascent "First Philippine Republic" movement was crushed by the United States, and an Insular Government (territorial government) was instituted in 1901.

The Commonwealth of the Philippines was created in 1935, with full independence achieved in 1946.

Population was 7,600,000 in 1903.

1878 Scott 62 25m black "King Alponso XII"

Into the Deep Blue
The 2011 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Philippines 1854-1940, 654 major number descriptions. Of those, 275 are CV <$1-$1+, or 42%. Generally, the Spanish era (1854-1898) is moderately expensive, and quite expensive for the early issues; the U.S era (1899-1935) is moderately expensive to inexpensive; while the Commonwealth era (post 1935) is inexpensive.

The early Spanish Dominion stamps had Queen Isabella II as a subject, and resemble the Cuban stamps issued during the same era, except for differences in denomination. Generally the earlier 1854-1862 ( 13 stamps) are moderately expensive to quite expensive, and I have no examples.

But this 1863 specimen can be distinguished from the 1861-62 versions by having a colon, rather than a dot, after "CORREOS".

1864 Scott 22 6 2/8c green "Queen Isabella II"

A four stamp set was issued in 1864 with this design. (Similar stamps are found for Cuba.) CV is $2-$3+.

1874 Scott 48 12c gray lilac "Peace"

A four stamp set was released in 1874 (similar to the Cuban 1871 set) with this design. She must be holding an olive branch, as the design is labeled "Peace" in Scott. Interestingly, the same design for the Cuban stamps is called "Espana" (Spain) in Scott.

1877 Scott 55 10c blue "King Alfonso XII"

Between 1875-77, a seven stamp issue was developed with the "King Alfonso XII" design. His mother, Isabella II, had been forced into exile in 1868 after the "Glorious Revolution". His mother abdicated in his favor, and he returned as king following a coup in 1874. He was only seventeen.

By the way, if you notice stamps of this era punched with a round hole, that was for telegraph use, or for a stamp that was withdrawn from use. I have an example in my collection.

1882 Scott 86 12 4/8c bright rose "King Alfonso XII"

A thirteen stamp issue was produced between 1880-86 of the young king. The 2 4/8c ultramarine stamp comes in original, 1st, and 2nd retouch states. Scott has the details.

1883 Scott 95 8c on 2c carmine

Green Surcharge

Between 1881-88, there were issued some 24 stamps handstamped surcharged in various colors

Between 1887-88, a three stamp "redrawn" issue was released. These are actually posthumous, as King Alfonso XII had died of tuberculosis and dysentery in 1885 at the age of 27.

But his second wife was pregnant with a son....

1891 Scott 178 25c dull blue "King Alfonso XIII"

Alfonso XIII was a monarch from birth, and these stamp portraits show him at age four. His mother, Maria Christina of Austria, served as regent until his 16th birthday in 1902. During the regent period, Spain lost her larger colonies- Cuba, and the Philippines- because of the Spanish-American War.

The 1890-97 issue consists of 41 stamps. CV ranges from <$1-$2+ for 26 stamps. The most expensive CV @ $40 is for the 20c salmon.

1894 Scott P7 1/8c orange brown "King Alfonso XIII"

Newspaper Stamp

There were also 16 Newspaper stamps released with the baby Alfonso XIII image from 1890-96.

1907 Scott 185 5c on 5c green, Red Surcharge

In 1897, nine previous issues were handstamped surcharged, as shown. The surcharges can be found in blue, red, black, and violet colors.

1898 Scott 201 5c carmine rose "King Alfonso XIII"

The adolescent Alfonso XIII (twelve years old) visage was issued on 20 stamps in 1898. Similar stamps can be found for the other Spanish colonies. CV is <$1-$1+ for fourteen stamps.

1899 Scott 217 10c brown, type I, "Webster"

Issued under U.S. Administration

Then the Spanish-American War happened, and Spain ceded the Philippines in 1898 to the U.S. for 20 million dollars. Between 1899-1901, a nine stamp issue was released by overprinting U.S. stamps of the era.

1903 Scott 227 2c carmine "Washington"

On 1902-03 U.S. Issues

The overprinting continued until 1906 when Philippine stamps proper were issued for the territory.

The 1903-04 overprinted issue had 15 stamps, and the C.V. reflects U.S. collector interests, with nine stamps @ <$1-$10+.

1899 Scott J3 5c deep claret

Seven U.S. postage due stamps were likewise overprinted between 1899-1901.

Although my focus is WW classical era stamps for this blog, I must admit that my home country produced exquisite stamp designs indeed. ;-)

1898-99 Scott Y2 2c red "Coat of Arms"

Filipino Revolutionary Government

When the U.S. took over in 1898, they had to face the newly created "Filipino Revolutionary Government" created by General Emilio Aguinaldo on June 23, 1899, primarily located on the island of Luzon. The rebellion was quashed, and the General was taken prisoner on March 23, 1901.

Of interest, Aguinaldo was again in the news during the Japanese occupation, as he urged cooperation with them. He was arrested after WW II, but released under presidential amnesty. He argued he was trying to minimize Filipino deaths.

Five stamps were issued between 1898-99, and the collector may want a souvenir of the uprising. ;-)

Deep Blue

1933-39 Air Post Issues in Deep Blue

Deep Blue (Steiner) has 34 pages, and covers all the stamp issues except one. The one exception are the 1898-99 Filipino Revolutionary Government stamps, which are in the classic 1840-1940 Scott catalogue. I added a quadrilled page for those stamps.

Observations....
* There are ten stamps with CV $10+: three which are CV $35- $40 (Most Expensive category).

* The 1906-22 spaces are a mess. Often, there are up to five choices, because the Perf variations (Perf 10,11,12) and the watermark variations (Wmk 190,191, unwmked) are telescoped into one space. And there is no room for the 1925-31 Imperf variety.

* The "Commonwealth" overprinted issue is only admitted for the 1936-37 variety, not the 1938-40 variety.

* No Official stamps are included in BB, although 34 stamps are CV <$1-$1+.

Hmm...very interesting. Either the 1997 Big Blue doesn't have the Air Mail page or mine is missing, resulting in my count of 201. However, you may be off by two, as I also have spaces for the 1c & 2c 1899 Postage Dues.

Hi Joe!Ah, I was indeed off, because I did not put the 1899 J1 and J2 into the checklist. I corrected it. Thanks! I counted to make sure, and I have 217 spaces, including a last page of 16 air post stamps. I can't believe Scott would lop off the 1997 edition Philippines air mail page!

I'm glad you stopped by, Joe, because I wanted to thank you again for the count you provided in Excel for Big Blue.If you haven't seen it, I did indeed reference your excel work in the blog posthttp://bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2015/01/StatusofMyBigBlueCollection.html

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About Me

After thirty years of being away, I resumed my 1840-1940 worldwide collection in 2011. I initially settled on Big Blue, the Scott International Volume (Part) 1. But there was no checklist: - until now. You can see the results with my blog posts.
In the meantime, I began to put my collection in the WW classic Steiner albums (Deep Blue). I love evaluating the classical stamps for a country, and reporting the findings here.
And I would appreciate any suggestions for making this effort better. Enjoy!
Jim